Table Of ContentProject Administration for
Design-Build Contracts
Other Titles of Interest
ALTERNATIVE PROJECT DELIVERY PROCUREMENT, AND CONTRACTING
METHODS FOR HIGHWAYS
Edited by Keith R. Molenaar and Gerald Yakowenko
Provides an objective description of procurement methods that can improve the efficiency
and effectiveness of public-sector project delivery.
ASCE Committee Report, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7844-0886-5
CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT CLAIMS, CHANGES, AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION,
SECOND EDITION
Paul Levin
Merges the principles of construction law with practical advice to aid those involved in the
construction claims process.
ASCE Press, 1998. ISBN 978-0-7844-0276-4
INTERPRETING CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS: FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES FOR
CONTRACTORS, PROJECT MANAGERS, AND CONTRACT ADMINISTRATORS
H. Randolph Thomas and Ralph D. Ellis
Uses rules set forth by the judiciary and decades of practical experience to discuss
troublesome contract clauses and present rules to construe them so as to avoid disputes.
ASCE Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7844-0921-3
PREPARING FOR DESIGN-BUILD PROJECTS: A PRIMER FOR OWNERS, ENGINEERS,
AND CONTRACTORS
Douglas D. Gransberg, James E. Koch, and Keith R. Molenaar
Covers the basics of developing a design-build project, from developing requests for
proposals, to preparing an effective proposal, to evaluating and selecting a source.
ASCE Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7844-0828-5
PREPARING REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR DESIGN-
BUILD PROJECTS
ASCE Committee on Specifications, ASCE Construction Institute
Explains in detail the key steps in preparing a concise, well-written request for proposals.
ASCE Committee Report, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7844-0987-9
TEN COMMANDMENTS OF BETTER CONTRACTING
Francis T. Hartman
Outlines ten basic rules for improving contract performance.
ASCE Press, 2003 ISBN 978-0-7844-0653-3
THE ENGINEERS JOINT CONTRACT DOCUMENTS COMMITTEE (EJDCD)
CONTRACT DOCUMENTS
Fair and objective standard documents that represent the latest and best thinking in
contractual relations between all parties involved in engineering design and construction
projects. For more information, please visit http:// pubs. asce.org/c ontracts.
Project Administration for
Design-Build Contracts
A Primer for Owners,
Engineers, and Contractors
James E. Koch, Ph.D., P.E.
Douglas D. Gransberg, Ph.D., P.E.
Keith R. Molenaar, Ph.D.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Koch, James Edward.
Project administration for design-build contracts : a primer for owners, engineers, and contractors /
James E. Koch, Douglas D. Gransberg, Keith R. Molenaar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7844-1075-7
1. Building—Superintendence. 2. Buildings—Specifications. 3. Construction contracts.
I. Gransberg, Douglas D. II. Molenaar, Keith R. (Keith Robert III. Title.
TH438.K553 2010
690.068—dc22
2010023045
Published by American Society of Civil Engineers
1801 Alexander Bell Drive
Reston, Virginia 20191
www.pubs.asce.org
Any statements expressed in these materials are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily
represent the views of ASCE, which takes no responsibility for any statement made herein. No refer-
ence made in this publication to any specific method, product, process, or service constitutes or implies
an endorsement, recommendation, or warranty thereof by ASCE. The materials are for general infor-
mation only and do not represent a standard of ASCE, nor are they intended as a reference in purchase
specifications, contracts, regulations, statutes, or any other legal document.
ASCE makes no representation or warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, concerning the
accuracy, completeness, suitability, or utility of any information, apparatus, product, or process discussed
in this publication, and assumes no liability therefor. This information should not be used without first
securing competent advice with respect to its suitability for any general or specific application. Anyone
utilizing this information assumes all liability arising from such use, including but not limited to
infringement of any patent or patents.
ASCE and American Society of Civil Engineers—Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Photocopies and reprints. You can obtain instant permission to photocopy ASCE publications by using
ASCE’s online permission service (http://pubs.asce.org/permissions/requests/). Requests for 100
copies or more should be submitted to the Reprints Department, Publications Division, ASCE (address
above); e-mail: [email protected]. A reprint order form can be found at http://pubs.asce.org/sup-
port/reprints/.
Copyright © 2010 by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 978-0-7844-1075-2
Manufactured in the United States of America.
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
by Peter Beck
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
ONE INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN-BUILD PROJECT ADMINISTRATION 1
Design-Build Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Summary of Recent Design-Build Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Design-Build versus Design-Bid-Build: What Is Different . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Design-Build Project Team. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Identifying the Preeminent Factor for Using Design-Build . . . . . . . . 27
Partnering the Design-Build Contract after Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Design-Build Success Factors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
TWO SCHEDULING DESIGN-BUILD PROJECTS 37
Analyzing Contract Schedule Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Design-Build Scheduling Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
DB Schedule Imperatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
THREE DESIGN ADMINISTRATION IN DESIGN-BUILD 65
Changing the Design Administration Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Design Personnel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Integrating Contract Design Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Design-Build Charettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Performance Criteria Interpretation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Design Submittals and Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Drawing Numbering System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
vv
vi Project Administration for Design-Build Contracts
FOUR DESIGN QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE DESIGN-BUILD PROJECT 97
Design-Build Quality Assurance Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Design Quality Defined. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
The Economics of Quality in the Design Phase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
FIVE DESIGN ADMINISTRATION CASE STUDIES 149
Case 5-1: “When Is Design ReallyDesign?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Case 5-2: “Actions Speak Louder Than Words.”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Case 5-3: “The Growing Design”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Case 5-4: “All the Right Moves” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Case 5-5: “Keep Looking until You Find the RightAnswer.”. . . . . . . 159
SIX CONSTRUCTION QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE
DESIGN-BUILD PROJECT 163
Construction Quality Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Owner’s Role in Defining Construction Quality Requirements. . . . 168
The Economics of Quality in the Construction Phase. . . . . . . . . . . 172
Construction Quality Management Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Verification and Acceptance Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Post-Award Construction Quality Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Construction Quality Personnel Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
SEVEN DESIGN-BUILD CHANGE ORDERS 191
Design-Build Change Order Entitlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Design-Build Change Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Design-Build Change Order Process during Design . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
EIGHT PROGRESS PAYMENTS DURING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION 219
Payment for Design Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Retainage and Final Payment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Limitation on Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Incentive Payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Design-Build Project Cost Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
NINE CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION CASE STUDIES 255
Case 9-1: “Trust Me. I Know This Will Work.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Case 9-2: “The Winning Inspector Is . . .” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Case 9-3: “If You Have Never Seen It, You Will Never Want It.”. . . . 258
Case 9-4: “Were You Really Sure You Were Ready for
This Project?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Case 9-5: “Whom Are You Trying to Satisfy?”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Contents vii
Appendix A: Implementing Building Information Modeling in
Design-Build Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
by Tamera L. McCuen
Appendix B: Implementing Sustainability in Design-Build Projects . . . . . . . . . . . 273
by Lee A. Fithian
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
This page intentionally left blank
Foreword
I am both pleased and honored to be invited to write a foreword for a book on
the topic of design-build contract administration. This type of book has been a
long time in coming and provides much-needed guidance for both design-builders
and—more importantly—our valued clients. I have had the pleasure of knowing
Doug Gransberg for years through The Beck Group’s involvement with the Uni-
versity of Oklahoma’s Construction Science Division, where we have found many
of our best employees. Doug’s program has been one of a few that seeks to prepare
entry-level designers and constructors with the skill set to be successful as inte-
grated design-builders. We have also employed him as a design-build consultant to
assist The Beck Group’s efforts to better understand federal government opportu-
nities.I have always found his in-depth and practical understanding of design-build
to be unique, refreshing, and informative. I know Doug’s co-authors, Keith Molenaar
and Jim Koch,by reputation and through our mutual involvement in the Design-
Build Institute of America. A book by this trio of experienced design-build
researchers, practitioners, and consultants is written from a deep well of experi-
ence. Keith Molenaar was the first researcher in the nation to tackle this emerging
area in the early 1990s, and Jim Koch worked with Doug in their previous careers
in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where they pioneered the Corps’s design-
build program. He has spent the subsequent years putting his experience to work
for the nation’s benefit as a director of the Rebuild Iraq program. Thus, the infor-
mation contained in this book has literally been tested in the most challenging
project delivery environments.
This is the opportune time for all practitioners to develop a keen understanding
ofthe design-build delivery method. Up until now, too many design-build projects
either appear to have been designed by the contractor or fail to embrace the unique
opportunities to integrate the disciplines. We must learn to build upon our knowl-
edge of the process on a project-by-project basis and ultimately consider marrying
the disciplines within the same firm in order to amortize investments in technol-
ogy, cross-training, cross-disciplinary processes, and so on over many projects. The
ix
